The Fearless Defenders #5Review

If you dig deeply, you might be able to find a deep, philosophical meaning in The Fearless Defenders. You can make an argument that writer Cullen Bunn is spinning a yarn about finding the hero within, or living up to one's true potential, or finding allies in the last places one would look. You wouldn't be wrong about any of those things, but I don't think that's what The Fearless Defenders is about. At its very core, it's a comic book that's about kicking ass and taking names and having a jolly good time while you do it.

Issue #5 has one of my favorite covers of the series thus far, inspired by Street Fighter style combat. There's a plethora of female heroes on the cover, and each of them appears in the issue as the fight against the Doom Maidens gets even bigger. Valkyrie's reticence to select heroes worth of the title of shieldmaiden is what created the mess our characters find themselves in, so it's Misty Knight who gets the job done. As Misty leads the charge into battle, we see why these insanely disparate characters work so well together in the first place. It's their differences that make them a strong team.

Will Sliney's art has been somewhat less concerned with the tiny-waisted, large-breasted idealization of the female form, but it's still toeing the line into cheesecake territory here. That being said, his action sequences are fun and dynamic, if you ignore the Same Face Syndrome plaguing the book's cast. AS always, Veronica Gandini's colors are vivid and saturated, lending a vibrancy to the world of The Fearless Defenders that's as colorful as its characters. So, if you're looking for a book that's unabashedly fun and you're not reading this series . . . look at your life. Look at your choices.

Melissa Grey is a lover of all things cats, comics, and outer space. She can be found on MyIGN at MelissaGrey or lurking on Twitter @meligrey.